5 Ways To Make Your Worship Set A Train Wreck

Posted on Dec 13, 2010 | 0 comments

Some of my most uncomfortable moments in leading worship have been a result of one thing, and one thing only: poor song choice.

It’s not that the songs were bad, they just weren’t the right songs for that particular time and place.

In my mind, a train wreck is when you look into the crowd and only few people are engaged.  You look behind you, and your band looks more clueless than Santa Claus in a ballet outfit.  You sit down, after it’s all finished, bite your upper lip and think, “yikes, that was rough”!  More often than not, the culprit is poor song choice.

Over the last twelve years of leading worship, I have been  derailed by each of these 5 mistakes.  I’d like to say that I learned my lesson after one train wreck, but that would be lying!

5 Things To Avoid With Your Song Selection

1. BIG songs, little band. If you are leading alone with a timid little Casio keyboard, it may not be the time to give your best rendition of “One Way” by Hillsong.  A lot of these songs are written to be played with a BIG arena sound, backed by stacks of sub-woofers and full drum kits.  Be aware of your dynamics.  Not only is it awkward to play these songs with the wrong instruments, but it’s also hard to follow.
2. Every song is new. You might be stoked about 10 new songs that are freakishly anointed.  In fact, you played them all on repeat for the past week and know them by heart.  Guess what? For 90% of the people on Sunday, they are completely new songs.  Give them something to sink their teeth into, something familiar that they can use to engage God’s heart.  Then introduce a new one.
3. 7 Songs with 10 different keys. You don’t want to have to take off your capo and move it after every song.  Even worse, you don’t want to have to come up with a “transitional prayer” for each of these changes! Group together some of your songs into the same key to allow for smoother transitions and a better overall “flow”.  This can also allow space for you to vamp and it gives more freedom for spontaneity.
4. Songs are out of normal singing range. You may have pipes, but keep in mind, most of the people in your meeting probably aren’t trained vocalists.  If you choose keys that are too high (watch those choruses), you may see people start to bleed from their vocal chords, and that could get awkward very quickly.  It’s totally ok to make people shout for a bridge here, or a chorus there, but try to make it accessible overall.
5. Great songs, wrong crowd. If the median age in your church is 87.5, be sensitive to that.  If God has called you to lead those people in worship, it’s highly likely that you will be leading with a lot of hymns.  It’s a healthy practice to introduce new, contemporary songs as well, but your goal is to lead people into the manifest presence of God, so keep it relevant and engaging.  If you’re a guest worship leader, do everything you can to find out what the community is accustomed to for worship material.

Hey, it’s ok if you have a train wreck, or two, or three…Understand that God is full of grace, and that he isn’t hesitant to meet with his people.  We don’t have to perform for him, he wants your affection and acknowledgment.   This is just a short list of things that will help you equip the Church with stronger leadership.